Tuesday, June 28, 2011

From the
past few months, I have noticed a new awareness in myself. I am hypersensitive
to people: their moods, body language, facial expressions, changes in their
voice and also my surroundings. Its like
the awareness that comes when one is initiated
with a mantra and a subtle but enormous change takes place in a human’s body.

Nowadays,
wherever I go, I tend to see the details that I had earlier missed or
overlooked. I am not sure if it is a writer thing, or its happening just like
that. In January, on a flight to Mumbai, I was enchanted with a young couple. I
admit they made a striking couple and attracted more than a fair share of
eyeballs, but I watched them as though I was
studying them for an exam. Let me hasten to add, that I didn’t stare at
them, but my eyes frequently strayed
towards them.

I liked the unselfconscious way the girl was
feeding the guy chocolate. Though the guy was glued to his laptop, the girl’s
constant chatter didn’t disturb him; there was no irritated expression
on his face. I liked the tattoo on the guy’s arm and the way his fingers moved
over the keyboard. The couple looked to be in their twenties and completely in
love, atleast the girl seemed more than the guy as she was displaying an
excessive P.D.A. My mind constantly drifted to the young couple; I
wondered who they were, where were they going, where were they from, what did
they do. I caught a glimpse of them at
the Mumbai airport waiting for a taxi. I
am sure both the girl and the guy will feature in some story/scene in a future
work.

The same
thing happened last week. I was out for lunch with a close friend. It was a
typical Bangalore
day: light drizzle, clouds that drove the sun away. While my friend and I were
shopping, an old couple entered the shop we were in. Once again my
writer’s eye latched upon them.

I noticed
the frugal way they bought the food items, I noticed the tacit look the husband
exchanged with his wife before picking
up the smallest packets and reading the price tags on the slightly larger ones
before placing them back on the shelves. This couple shared an understanding
that came with years of being together. Again, I can say with a certainty that
this old couple will figure in a future work of mine.

Does this
thing happen to you? Are you distracted by people, or, does something attract
your attention in such a way making you
wonder about it frequently. I am noticing that as I write more and more, I am
getting more observant? Please tell me whether any of you suffer from the same
malady? Please assure me that I am not going nuts, that I am just looking for
inspiration for my stories.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Many
writers, even though they have written just one book or maybe two, have ensured
that they don’t fade out of public memory. In this case I am solely
talking about India, as I have no experience of
other countries. It’s said, that these writers hire Public Relations
Professionals to keep them fresh in people’s mind. I have heard this from my
friends in the media. There is no proof, this could be just plain hearsay, or
guesswork.

All
kinds of rumours, that these authors have been approached by such and such a filmmaker
to write a script and many such stories are constantly floating around. The rumour
starts with a small snippet, that so
many people have approached the writer to buy the movie rights of the book.

Whether
somebody has approached the writer or
not, is a moot point. The purpose has been achieved. The writers and their
books are suddenly in the news. Serious filmmakers with a strong deficit of
good scripts not only ask their assistants to buy the book, they end up reading
the book and eventually end up approaching the writer with a contract
for the movie rights. People’s curiousity has been aroused to such an
extent that many have thronged bookshops
to buy the book. It’s a win-win situation. Everyone is happy.

Many times I have seen that these writers
have conveniently brushed aside the names
of directors who were supposed to have initially approached them. ‘Why take names when the deals haven’t worked
out,’ the writers brush away all the queries.

These same writers constantly give sound
bites on various topics :from the state of the politics to Valentine’s Day
Celebration, from corruption to crime against Women. Everything is planned to give them visibility.

One
writer categorically denied the huge advance a publishing house was said to
have given her. 'The figure is highly
inflated. My book is in the news for all the wrong reasons,’ she had said in an
interview. There were stories that the publishing house had created the buzz to
hype the book.

I
feel there is nothing wrong in hiring
P.R professionals, after all writers
work as hard as other professionals, and like everyone
else they want both themselves and their work to be noticed. Its absolutely
acceptable. Visibility is indeed the name of the game. Else, how will people
know that such and such book is out.

Now, comes the main question, of ethics.
Is it right to plant stories that have no basis in reality? Is it okay to start
a wave of rumour in the hope that it turns into a reality? I would like to know
how far should writers go to publicize their books? Should the fire of people’s curiousity be stoked to
keep someone else warm. What do you think is the acceptable limit to publicize
books? I would really love to hear everyone’s views.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

As writers we are all victims of the elusive muse who showers his/her blessings via inspiration,
which like lightning can strike us any time, any place and anywhere. Sometimes,
even twice in the same place.

My muse
tends to be very generous when ever it suits him (yes, my muse is a male).
Don’t ask me how I have come to that conclusion. I just know it. Call it a
Woman’s Instinct. Just like my mom knows when I am dodging the truth.

Honestly,
there have been times when I am at a party
enjoying a marathon chat session with my favourite cousins and my muse is
whispering important plot points in my ears. At that time I am not sure whether
I am supposed to drop my tandoori kebab and jot down the points. Then, I
realize that I was foolish enough to bring a tiny clutch
purse which had turned up its nose at my scribbling pad and
pen.

Once, I
even made notes on paper napkins, the
pen was borrowed from a gentleman having a drink at the next table.

There have been times when I have
quickly wiped my hands on a paper napkin and typed those important plot points
as a message and saved it on my cell phone. Inspiration has its amazing way of striking me when I least expect it. Another
favourite place for inspiration is when I am catching a movie with friends in a
multiplex. You can always find me with my eyes glued to the large screen and my
fingers typing a furious tattoo on my cell.

Nowadays, inspiration arrives at my doorstep when I am reading blog
posts. I am not going to name the bloggers, because, I fear that they may
demand a percentage of my royalty for inspiring me.

Many
senior writers suggest keeping a pen and paper not just handy, but in many
places in the house. That way it’s easy to make notes and capture the secrets
spilling out of our muse’s mouth before he/she decides to disappear.

Where
does Inspiration strike you? Which is its favourite haunt? How do you cope with
its demands? Any funny incidents that come to mind? We would love to be
inspired by the stories of your inspiration.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Most of my
Blogging Friends must be thinking that I
have got hung up on plot. This is my second consecutive post on plot.

For us
writers, plot is a necessary evil. Our writing careers hinge on creating
gripping plots. We all know that Plot is
the literary element that describes the structure of a story. A plot diagram is an organizational tool,
which is used to map the significant events in a story. By placing the most
significant events from a story on the plot diagram, we can visualize the key
features of the story. I had done a post
about my plotting method: Plot Structures that Capture the Essence of the Story. It’s simple and easy to follow.

While
researching about plot for my class, I
realized that I was really a plot novice. There was so much about plot
that I had no clue about. I am sharing
what I discovered when I researched about plots. As many of us teach creative writing, these explanations will help
us explain plot points to students.

There are
two types of plots: Linear Plots and Nonlinear Plots.

Nonlinear Plots are plots where the characters and dialogue go in more than one
direction. Nonlinear narrative is also called the disjointed or the disruptive narrative. This is a
technique which is sometimes used in literature and movies, in this type of
narrative the events are portrayed out of chronological order. It is often used to mimic the structure and recall of
human memory, to show memory lapses.

In Linear
Plots, both the character and dialogue
are going in one direction.

There are
many types of Linear plots.

Chronological Plot in which the events are told in a chronological
order; from the beginning to the end
with a middle in between and everything follows a proper sequence. Most
books follow this plot structure.

Flashback
Plot in which the story is told in
Flashback by the narrator through memories of the events.

There is
a third type of Plot : in medias res (in the middle of things) when the story
starts in the middle of the action without exposition. An example is Homer’s
Iliad. Most murder mysteries start this way.

In
addition to this we have another plot type the Circular Plot Type. A circular
plot shares many of the characteristics
of a linear plot, except that a circular plot typically begins and ends in the
same or similar place. A character would go through the entire journey of
resolving the dramatic question only to end up right back where they started,
with nothing solved.

A
skillful writer will create an unusual plot by adopting more than one type of plot, or playing with
several plot types.

So far I
have only tried the Chronological Plot
for my books. The flashback plot is one
I have used for several short stories. Personally, I would love to try
the in medias res for a suspense MG fiction I hope to outline in the near
future. Which kind of plot type would you all like to try? Do you know of any
other types of plot that will be of
interest to us. Please tell us.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The topic
for today’s post is the Classic Plot Shape. Plot was really my nemesis at the
start of my writing career. I was and I am still a plot novice. When I craft
the individual scenes, I just follow my instinct. When I stumbled upon this
diagram in a book, it really helped me understand plot and scenes.

The
conventional or the traditional western plot follows the linear conflict-
crisis - resolution pattern with its roots in the ideal plot which has been defined
by Aristotle in the poetics as having a
beginning, a middle and an end.

The
classic plot shape for both stories and novels
can be drawn as shown in the diagram above. A classic story begins with a situation in which there
is potential for conflict, but in which nothing so far has happened to set the conflict in motion.

Then, something happens (the catalyst -:
equivalent to Aristotle’s beginning) to
disrupt the status quo. This catalytic event may open the story with a bang or
it may be preceded by a passage of scene in which the status quo is
established.

Once the
catalyst has taken effect, there is
usually a build up of conflict and tension, a series of scenes or moments in
which matters complicate and which
culminates in a crisis (the equivalent of Aristotle’s middle) and this is
followed often very quickly by a
resolution (Aristotle’s End).

This
classic plot shape can be kept in mind when we are crafting the scenes in our
books. Each scene can be taken as a separate short story and the same formula can be applied.

Each scene
starts with a scene catalyst, something that disrupts the status quo in that
particular scene, then, there is a build up of conflict until a crisis is reached
and finally we have the much awaited scene resolution.

We can
even draw this classic plot diagram with short notes and titles for the
individual scenes. This can be used like
index cards and the different scenes can be written in brief using this
diagram, much like scene synopsis.

I am
definitely going to give this a try for the individual scenes. What about you all? Does the Classic
Plot Shape have any appeal for you all?
How do you craft the individual scenes and the plot? Please share your method
with us.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Not just books, I like to read author interviews too. Few
years back when one Indian writer won the Booker Prize, there was a long
interview of the author in a popular magazine. This was the author’s second
book. Her first book did create a
hullabullo, as her mother was a very famous writer and she had a famous last
name. The writer openly admitted that her book had been written with the Booker
Prize in mind. Her dad had gifted her the last ten year’s Booker prize winning
books.

After
reading all the prize winning books, she realized what kind of stories, writing
styles and themes appealed to the jury
and the judges. Then, started her long and uphill task of writing a book that
would appeal to the judges. Her book was rejected by several publishers abroad. One New York
Editor called it the most miserable book
she had read. The book was finally published after it had been chopped from 800
pages to 350 pages. The book sold very few copies until it was shortlisted for
the Booker. And, when it won the coveted prize, the sales touched the sky. Now,
this author has an advance of 2.7million pounds for her next book.

This
got me thinking that like a chess player this particular author planned her
writing career, she knew exactly where she wanted to go. Though she met with the
initial rebuffs, ultimately, she not just succeeded but is laughing all the way
to the bank and has also been taken seriously.

Though, I
had read her interview few years back, I don’t know why it was flashback time now. Perhaps there is a
message for all of us in this. By now, most of us know the genre we want to
write, and the kind of stories we are capable of writing. We all are in this
for the long haul. It’s not just one book I am talking about. It’s definitely
more than one.

I think
its time we all too planned a writing
strategy. I am not sure whether I am making the correct writing moves. I do
have a writing agenda in mind, at the
moment its to get my next lot of books published.

But, I
have plans of reading a lot of books in my genre; seeing why few worked and why the others didn’t work (I already do that). I would also like
to read the books that were made into movies. What was their appeal? Why the characters worked?I have
started reading a lot of writing craft books to help me create better plots.

Are you all
planning your writing moves with the precision of
a chess player? Or, are you just
swimming with the flow? What do you think of the above author planning her
career by making all the moves that made her achieve her goal. Do you
think what she did was right?

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

When I started writing I use to often wonder what a plot
was. It gave me nightmares that my stories may not have much of a plot. Then,
came the crucial question, what was or
is a plot? Does plot just happen? Is plot a result of the different scenes tied
up in a proper narrative order? Do I
have to create a plot? Or will a plot
just emerge at the end of the story, after the scenes have been arranged in a proper order. I use
to hope that there would be someone who would answer all my plot questions.

As I
wrote more and more, I realized that we have to work hard to create an engrossing plot that will keep
readers sticking to the story, page after page.

When I
read James Scott Bell’s book- Plot & Structure, all my plot worries fell away. Its the first writing craft book I bought. Scott has come up with an amazing and
simple structure that when applied to our stories will help us come up with a
solid plot everytime. I realized after reading his book, that plots can be
worked to perfection at the initial stage of drafting the stories.

This system by Scott is a simple set of foundational principles
called the LOCK system.

LOCK
stands for Lead, Objective, Confrontation and Knockout.

Scott writes that a strong plot starts with an
interesting lead character, a compelling someone we have to watch throughout
the course of the story/novel.

Then he talks about the one and only one dominant
objective for the lead character. Objective is a want or a desire that the
character has. This forms the “Story Question”
will the Lead realize her Objective. An objective can take either of two
forms:to get something or to get away from something.

Scott
advises that Confrontation is crucial to
the story. Opposition from other characters and external forces bring stories
to life. We have to constantly throw obstacles into our lead’s path and not
make things easy for her or him.

After all
the pages we have put our readers through, our stories must have the Knockout
power to satisfy readers. Great endings not just satisfy readers, but also make
them happy.

When a
story idea pops into our mind, we can apply this system to see whether the
story has enough power to fuel the pages.

I have
now decided to keep the LOCK in mind whenever a story idea pops into my mind.
This will give me a sense of whether the story is worthy of all the time I
spend on it. Do you work with the LOCK system in mind? Or do you have another
method of creating that great plot. Please share your method with us. We all
can learn from it.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Years back, when an Indian book was in the news for the
phenomenal advance the writer got, there
was major hype around the book. Everyone waited eagerly for the book to hit the
bookshelves. So did I. When the book finally arrived, I am sure most readers
read it to see whether the book justified the 7 figure advance it got. Many
felt it was not worth the money paid to the writer. Whatever the feelings, the
book sold really well.

The
same thing happened last year. Another book was in the news for all the wrong
reasons- the huge advance the writer was awarded. I read quite a few of the reviews; for many the book was
not worth the huge advance.

These big advance hypes create a huge buzz around the books. There is
an overwhelming curiousity factor. More often than not, people buy the books,
but do not like the stories. By themselves the books may be wonderful, but,
when compared to the vast amount of money, the stories definitely pale in
comparision. The big advance I feel increases people's expectations. However wonderful the book, it eventually falls short of people's expectations.

I read
both the books. They were good. But, most people kept the advance in mind while
reading the book. It was like they were weighing each word against
a currency note. The words then looked small next to the money they had earned before even a single copy was sold. One
book has become a benchmark for other Indian books. The second book has just
died a hasty death.

One thing I realized was that all the hype
about 6-7 figure deals create a major
buzz around the book. The book gets a
golden aura.Whether it lives upto to that aura or not, plenty of copies are sold.
Sometimes I wonder whether people in the publishing business
deliberately create the hype, otherwise how else will they publicize the
book.

Is a big advance a measure of a writer’s craft? Shouldn’t a book be judged by its
literary merit, by the story, words, character, plot and world building? By the
connection the story has made with the readers. I have loved several books
that did not make much money. Do you
equate a huge advance with a great book? Have you ever felt that a book was not
worth the advance it got? Do you feel over
hyping a book can kill it? I would love to hear everyone’s views.

About Me

Welcome to my Scriptorium, my online Writing Room. I love to connect with other writers, so grab a chair, a cup of coffee, a bar of chocolate and we will discuss stories, books, writing, works in progress, characters, plots, marketing, titles and many other things related to writing and publishing.